Country: Sri Lanka VOPE name: Sri Lanka Evaluation Association (SLEvA) Contact person: Prof Nilanthi Bandara, President,

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1 Country: Sri Lanka VOPE name: Sri Lanka Evaluation Association (SLEvA) Contact person: Prof Nilanthi Bandara, President, Title: Sri Lanka Evaluation Association, the Past, Present and Future Background SLEvA is the brain child of a small but very renowned group of like minded professionals of diverse fields, and development practitioners who felt the need for more transparency and accountability in development processes of the country acting together to foster, nurture and develop concepts towards common good and betterment of society. It was initially catalyzed by UNICEF and the Governance project of UNDP under the ministry of Plan Implementation. The very first meeting of SLEvA general membership was held in September 1999 where a constitution to guide the functions of the association was adopted and the first executive Council was elected. The vision of SLEvA is: Promotion of an Evaluation Culture in the Country The main objectives are: To promote evaluation as an integral element in the development process To contribute to better management of development processes in Sri Lanka To promote transparency and accountability in Governmental and Non-Governmental development organizations/ processes The Association was registered with the Ministry of Social Services as a non-profit, non-governmental Civil Society Organization in From the very beginning the Association has remained as an independent professional organization with no affiliations even while collaborating strongly with the Government to achieve its vision, to promote an evaluation culture as an integral element in national and sub-national levels in Sri Lanka. Initially the functioning of the Association was through informal networks and charter and bylaws adopted. Now the Association is legally recognized by government. SLEvA is administered by an Executive Council of 11 members elected bi-annually at Annual General Meetings. Executive Council consists of President, Vice President, 2 Joint Secretaries, Treasurer, Asst. Treasurer, Editor and four other Council members. The Executive Council is assisted by sub-committees drawing members from the general membership formed as necessary for different activities. All these members contribute their time for the Association on a voluntary basis. A secretariat consisting of one full time executive secretary assists SLEvA in administrative work. From the inception SLEvA had taken a conscious decision not to do consultancy work or carry out evaluation work so that the credibility of the Association is not compromised at any time and SLEvA can always play an advocacy role. However, there is no restriction on individual members to conduct evaluations. In fact SLEvA acts as a focal point where information about professionals in evaluation and consultancy work are available and distributed. Membership of SLEvA, which started at a mere 35, is presently 201 and comprises government officials, academics, members from NGOs and CSOs and private sector consultants. There are two categories of membership, individual and corporate membership. We have at present 5 corporate members. I C Jim Rugh :53 PM e Jim Rugh :53 PM c Jim Rugh :54 PM Jim Rugh :55 PM

2 Strategy and implementation In line with its vision SLEvA activities are focused on four key areas; Capacity building Information dissemination and sharing Assisting policy formulation Networking SLEvA contributions in these key areas are discussed below. Capacity Building From the beginning, recognizing the dearth of evaluation professionals in the country, SLEvA s main thrust area had been building of evaluation capacity in the country. These capacity building efforts had targeted a very wide range of audience; government officials, NGO workers, academics and students. SLEvA has managed to develop evaluation capacity in the country through various activities, the principle amongst which are: Conducting national conferences / seminars for sharing of experience in evaluation and related aspects International conferences on current themes on evaluation Professional development workshops for capacity building in M&E National level conferences and seminars are generally held annually where the main target group is local participants. At these forums we provide a platform for local evaluators to share their experiences and get a feedback from experts in the field of evaluation. We have been fortunate to have eminent professionals in the field of evaluation such as, Dr Adil Khan, Dr Ray Rist and Dr Howard White to conduct seminars for our members, as well as others who are involved in the field of evaluation. The exposure thus provided was indeed very valuable in building capacity of evaluation in the country. One of the key strategies employed by SLEvA to develop local capacity is to hold International Conferences. Our very first conference was held in 2001 under the theme Evaluation, Good Governance and Development. The second international conference was held in 2003 on the theme Development Evaluation for Improving Outcomes. Although international participation was not up to expectation, the local participation made up for it with the participation of high level government officials and heads of UN and other donor agencies. The turning point came in 2007 with an international conference of large scale with very wide international participation. The conference was held under the theme Evaluation; An essential element in the development process. The extensive participation of both international and national participants brought SLEvA to the limelight and due recognition as a mentor promoting evaluation culture in the country. Since then SLEvA is committed to having biannual international conferences to further enhance this. We have been successful in being able to hold an international conference under the theme Evaluation for Development Results in 2009 and under the theme Evaluation for Policy and Action in These International Conferences were multi-purpose in nature. While promoting evaluation culture in the country and providing a platform for a meeting of professional evaluators, it also brought in eminent academics and personnel in the field of evaluation whose expertise we were able to use to develop capacity in evaluation in the country. Since Jim Rugh :57 PM E Jim Rugh :57 PM e Jim Rugh :58 PM Jim Rugh :58 PM i Jim Rugh :58 PM o Jim Rugh :59 PM excessive Jim Rugh :59 PM been

3 2007 post- and/or pre-conference workshops conducted by pioneers became a feature of our international conferences. These also attracted many local and international participants which ensured sustainability. In addition to these SLEvA, managed to organize professional development workshops from the very beginning. These were conducted by international resource persons who were mainly invited when they are visiting this part of the region and by local experienced evaluators. SLEvA managed to gain much recognition amongst public officials particularly from Ministry of Plan Implementation and evaluators in private sector and NGOs. Generally around 3-5 capacity building workshops are conducted through SLEvA and the demand is ever increasing. As an example, in the year 2012 four workshops were conducted, the first on the theme The Past, Present and Future of Evaluation Research conducted by Prof. Ray Pawson, a renowned international expert in the field of evaluation in March, a workshop on Evaluation Management in July and a workshop on Quantitative Methods in Evaluation in August In August 2012 in collaboration with the Consortium of Universities on Teaching Evaluation in South Asia (TESA), a professional development workshop on the theme Mixed Method Approaches to Evaluation was conducted by Prof. Donna Mertens of the Gallaudet University USA. One of our strong areas is participatory and empowerment approaches in evaluation and numerous workshops had been conducted on this. Another unique opportunity we got was to coordinate the Teaching Evaluation in South Asia (TESA) project which was funded by IDRC. The project was initiated in 2009 to bridge the void in training opportunities available in the academic institutions in South Asia. The main objective of TESA was to develop a curriculum consisting of 8 modules for a post graduate diploma in Evaluation. Each participating institute was responsible for developing a module. Currently, this curriculum for the post graduate diploma developed by the six institutes; ASCII in Hyderabad, India, IIHMR in Jaipur, India, University and Industry Alliance of Dhaka University in Bangaladesh, IbSina in Afganistan and University of Sri Jayawardanapura and Sri Lanka Evaluation Association in Sri Lanka is being fine-tuned. SLEvA not only coordinated the project but also developed a key module Evaluation Approaches. 6 SLEvA members were involved in this and in the process were able to participate at various meetings and conferences, thus enhancing their capacity as well. In testing these modules SLEvA has taken the initiative and tested out 3 modules in several small group workshops. Jim Rugh :02 PM P Jim Rugh :02 PM P Jim Rugh :02 PM Jim Rugh :03 PM I Jim Rugh :05 PM, Jim Rugh :06 PM 2012 Jim Rugh :07 PM was All the above mentioned training programs were well participated and accepted. Considering all these it can be said that SLEvA s contribution to build up a capacity of evaluation in the country is significant. Information dissemination and sharing Our second objective of information dissemination and sharing of information is primarily through electronic media. Our website is frequently updated to include all current activities of SLEvA as well as other relevant information. Information we receive from various organizations about events, reference material, current findings, opportunities for employment and consultancies are immediately sent forth to the general membership. SLEvA publishes a Bi-annual Newsletter, accessible through the web site which also is a source of information for the members. The proceedings from all the international conferences since 2007 are published and available in print form and electronically. Special presentations made by subject specialists on a timely basis by national and international resource persons is another way through which we share and disseminate information. Assisting policy formulation

4 One of the strengths and reasons for SLEvA s success is its strong collaboration with the Ministry of Plan Implementation (MPI) as a CSO partner in influencing policy and implementation. From inception itself SLEvA managed to maintain close ties with the Department of Foreign Aid and Budget Monitoring of the Ministry while maintaining our independence and integrity. This way we were able to influence the Government s policy on evaluation to a considerable extent. One of our key initiatives as a result of this collaboration was the preparation and submission of Draft National Policy paper on evaluation to MPI to enable the Ministry to commence a process in formulating a National Policy. This was initiated in response to a request made by the then Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Policy Development and Implementation at the International Conference in January The Association formulated the first Draft in April 2003 and presented it for an open consultation session in June With revisions to adjust to policy changes the final document was presented in June While the process took time, the acknowledgment by the Government of the need for an evaluation policy marks a milestone in strengthening an evaluation culture in the country and the draft policy is a significant product of SLEvA. The Ministry of Plan Implementation has taken steps by now to institutionalize evaluation practice across the government in support of results-based management (De Silva & Samaranayake, 2009). Details of the Draft National Evaluation Policy can be obtained from SLEvA Websites: and National Evaluation Policy.pdf. Networking SLEvA s success can also be attributed to the strategic partnerships formed over the years. Our main strategic partner was the Government through the Ministry of Plan Implementation who had been the partner in all our main activities conferences, professional development workshops etc. Both parties benefitted from this alliance. While SLEvA gained recognition and credibility the Ministry was able to develop the capacity of its officials and gain more exposure. Jim Rugh :11 PM ) UN collaboration was instrumental in SLEvA s growth. UNICEF and UNDP had been assisting us in most of our activities. This assistance was not so much in financial resources but more as a catalyst in making networks, accessing professional resources and above all imparting the strength of conviction in the role that a civil society organization like SLEvA could play in supporting the development process of the country (De Silva & Samaranayake, 2009).. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ, now GIZ), JBIC, and the American Red Cross are the other agencies who extended collaboration for various SLEvA activities in capacity building and dissemination of information. These partnerships were instrumental in achieving our objectives. We were also able to establish links with other key evaluation organizations. Since 2006, SLEvA is a member of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE). We are proud of the fact that the present President of IOCE, Ms Soma de Silva, is a Past President of SLEvA. We hosted the formation of the Evaluation Network of South Asia (ENSA) an initiative of the UNICEF Regional Office. We have recently entered into a collaborative partnership with Community of Evaluators of South Asia (COE/South Asia). Numerous information exchange visits made by many delegations is a testimony to SLEvA s recognition as one of South Asia s leading Evaluation Associations. We ve had the opportunity to share our experience with visiting delegations from Afghanistan, Republic of Yemen, Nepal and Uganda, who wanted to study the SLEvA model of a

5 civil society organization collaborating with the Government for a common cause. We also shared experiences with the visiting study team from the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) which gave us an opportunity for sharing experience with delegates from various countries. As a testimony of the recognition achieved by SLEvA, officials from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Evaluation Office in Washington DC who visited SLEvA in February 2012 requested us to collaborate with them in the capacity of an independent review panel in evaluation of GEF support to Sri Lanka. They also became a corporate member of SLEvA. Recently another meeting was held with officers of Evaluation Office, UNDP Head Quarters, and possible collaboration was discussed. Bottlenecks/challenges: Many challenges had to be overcome to come this far. The main amongst these are: 1. From inception SLEvA upholds voluntarism among its membership which had been a strong contributory factor. However, the limitations should be taken into consideration for sustenance of voluntarism (Tudawe & Samaranayake, 2008). Although there is no limit to the need and demand for activities that can be done through SLEvA, the human resources available are limited primarily due to the voluntarism in SLEvA activities and limitation with respect to time that can be spent by members. 2. The second challenge we face is the limited financial resources available for our activities. Throughout SLEvA has maintained its position laid down in the Constitution, that it would not undertake consultancies or carry out evaluations for financial gain which rests the burden of sustenance on the Council members. Hence, even if SLEvA likes to deliver professional development programs free of charge to reach out to a wider audience, it is difficult to do so. 3. The other challenge we face is that though we work in close collaboration with the Government we still are a nongovernmental organization and as such have limited influence over government policies. Progress and results: In spite of the above mentioned challenges we have made considerable progress. As presented earlier we have conducted 3 extremely successful international conferences and a large number of professional development workshops. Now we have a membership of over 200 individual members and 5 corporate members. We have quite a few publications to our credit. We are also a party to a consortium which developed a post graduate diploma in Evaluation for South Asian Universities. Jim Rugh :21 PM s Jim Rugh :22 PM SLEvA takes pride in its recognition at both national and international level. Key enabling factors: The main factor behind our success is the commitment of our members. Though small in numbers, SLEvA members constitute a close knit community. They respect the voluntarism of the organization and contribute as and when they can.

6 Good will and assistance of donor agencies is another factor which has enabled us to achieve most of our objectives irrespective of financial constraints. Another key factor is the Government blessings and collaboration which has given us credibility. Innovations and lessons learned: Since sustenance of SLEvA became a major concern, in 2009 the then President of SLEvA Ms Mallika Samaranayake, initiated and established an endowment fund for SLEvA utilizing the funds generated through various activities of SLEvA. This has enabled us to conduct our day to day activities without too much concern. Next steps: Although SLEvA had been very successful in promoting an evaluation culture in the center still we have not reached the provinces. As the next step we are in the process of working with government officials in the sub national and provincial level to promote evaluation and to further develop capacity of evaluation at these levels.